'Home' and 'nation' are contiguous terms — pointing towards an idea of respectively 'affective' and 'imagined' community — that both imply a common identity, a sense of belonging, cohesiveness and security. If the ideas of home/nation are largely dependent on a community's imagination, then, as recent scholarship has pointed out, poetry in larger measure than other literary expressions plays a key role in the shaping of such collective identities. At the same time, poetry's 'singularities' problematise the construction of a collective identity. This chapter explores how Scottish poetry has not only reflected but also creatively (re)shaped the experience of home/nation, covering a wide range of poems in Gaelic, Scots and English from the Middle Ages to the present, from various different genres, including elegies/poetry of mourning, epic poetry, panegyrics and political satire. It charts different approaches to/perceptions of home/nation, including that of women and diasporic Scots. Texts discussed include poems by the MacMhuirichs, John Barbour, David Lindsay, Màiri Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh, Iain Lom, Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, James Macpherson, Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Jean Elliott, Iain MacGhillEathain, Màiri Mhòr, Hugh MacDiarmid, Nan Shepherd, Somhairle MacGill-Eain, Edwin Morgan, Liz Lochhead, Anna Frater and Chris Whyte.
Nation and Home
SASSI, Carla;
2015-01-01
Abstract
'Home' and 'nation' are contiguous terms — pointing towards an idea of respectively 'affective' and 'imagined' community — that both imply a common identity, a sense of belonging, cohesiveness and security. If the ideas of home/nation are largely dependent on a community's imagination, then, as recent scholarship has pointed out, poetry in larger measure than other literary expressions plays a key role in the shaping of such collective identities. At the same time, poetry's 'singularities' problematise the construction of a collective identity. This chapter explores how Scottish poetry has not only reflected but also creatively (re)shaped the experience of home/nation, covering a wide range of poems in Gaelic, Scots and English from the Middle Ages to the present, from various different genres, including elegies/poetry of mourning, epic poetry, panegyrics and political satire. It charts different approaches to/perceptions of home/nation, including that of women and diasporic Scots. Texts discussed include poems by the MacMhuirichs, John Barbour, David Lindsay, Màiri Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh, Iain Lom, Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, James Macpherson, Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Jean Elliott, Iain MacGhillEathain, Màiri Mhòr, Hugh MacDiarmid, Nan Shepherd, Somhairle MacGill-Eain, Edwin Morgan, Liz Lochhead, Anna Frater and Chris Whyte.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
